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Show Gov. Tom Corbett the door in 2014

Updated:
02/11/2013 09:18:54 PM EST

In March 2011, I watched our governor's speech as he outlined his preliminary budget. He was speaking in the same city where Thaddeus Stevens gave what is considered one of our country's great speeches, eloquently advocating for a free public education for all.

Yet there was our governor, in that magnificent chamber, decimating public education, and seeming to relish it. My perception was that while I was not there in 1835 for the birth of public education in Pennsylvania, I was witnessing what very well could be the beginning of its demise.

On Jan. 30, a cartoon on Public Opinion editorial page illustrated Gov. Tom Corbett's laissez-faire attitude toward the hazards of natural gas fracking, only one of the many issues I have with him. As I took refuge in the funnies for comic relief, and "Today in History" to remind myself that it has often been worse, I noted that on this date in 1649, Charles I of England was beheaded.

Our state and U.S. Constitutions have wisely provided a civil outlet for our outrage. Instead of the guillotine or the firing wall, we have elections. I strongly suggest that "we the people" use the power of the ballot box and show Gov. Corbett the door in November 2014.